This invention relates to a combination carrying case and stand for tennis equipment, e.g. tennis racquets, tennis balls and tennis shoes.
Various carriers have been devised for carrying tennis racquets and related equipment. U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,103, to A. T. Cowen, discloses a carrying case comprising a main clothing compartment having a zippered access opening, and an auxiliary racquet compartment having a pair of zippered access openings partially closing the compartment with the racquet handle protruding upwardly beyond the case top wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,800 to P. Haggerty, shows a carrying case for a tennis racquet and tennis balls, formed by two rigid hollow case sections hingedly connected together, similar to a conventional violin case construction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,845 to F. Intengan, relates to a case for a tennis racquet and tennis balls, formed of two hollow mirror image case sections. Each case section has a contoured interior surface forming a cavity conforming to the shape of the tennis racquet being stored in the case.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,054, to E. Bredehoeft, et al shows a tennis racquet carrier having two slot-like chambers for a pair of tennis racquets and a hinged side panel for closing a tennis ball compartment located beneath the handles of the stored tennis racquets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,866, to J. Pelavin, discloses a flexible bag for containing items of clothing. An external panel is connected to one wall of the bag to form an external pocket adapted to receive a tennis racquet.
The present invention relates to a combination carrying case and stand for tennis equipment, e.g. three tennis racquets, several tennis balls, and a pair of tennis shoes. In preferred practice of the invention a foldable tripod structure is provided for supporting a fabric panel that mounts a number of individual pockets sized to receive tennis racquets, tennis balls and tennis shoes. For transportation purposes the tripod structure is folded into a narrow flat configuration suitable for carrying in suitcase fashion. At the tennis court the tripod structure is unfolded to form an upright stand; the pockets on the fabric panel are accessed to remove the tennis items for normal usage.
The upright stand is advantageous in that each pocket is fully visible and accessible, such that the person is unlikely to forget to place the tennis equipment in the pockets at home or at the tennis court. By having the individual pockets on an upright panel the pockets are separated and visible, whereby the person can visually check the condition of each pocket (full or empty).
Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the attached drawings and description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention.